Chapter 2- Crystalia’s Tale
When Delim eventually comes to, Relid finally has an opportunity to extend his offer to the young dragon, who graciously accepts. Crimsa is the last to return from the realm of unconsciousness and, as she stretches, she finds her whole body sore from the morning. A smokey smell wafts through the cave and brings Crimsa to the kitchen at the back of their cave. Upon entry, she finds Relid tending to the oven- a dish being added for cooking and another removed, ready to eat.
Crimsa is greeted kindly by Delim, whom, she notices, has slightly reddened bandages wrapped around his tail.
"What happened?" She inquires worriedly.
"When you bit my tail, you cracked the scales and tore the hide a bit."
Crimsa blushes lightly and lowers her head, turning it slightly to the side to break eye contact with Delim, "Sorry." She whispers embarrassedly.
"It's fine," Delim replies, lightly nudging Crimsa to look at him, smiling lightly when she does, and saying, "you were in pain far worse than I could ever imagine so you simply didn't have enough energy to put into thinking about something as unimportant as how hard you were biting down, and, on top of that, I kind of expected it when I agreed to allow you to do that."
At this show of intelligence and maturity from a dragon of only 12 years, and no formal schooling as all of his time is spent caring for his parents, who, to her, don't even seem to care about their own child, Crimsa can do no more than nod in a mixture of relief and thankfulness at being forgiven so easily.
A few hours pass as the cave begins to fill with delicious smells of a small feast being prepared for the coming evening meal. Everyone pitches in, including Delim, who is tasked with helping Crimsa recover, a job he finds a rare enjoyment in completing.
As the sun begins to set, the group of friends gathers around the single table in the cave, waiting patiently for one another to get settled in. As the group falls into their preferred places at the table, Relid speaks, "I thank you all for your assistance with Crimsa's laying; I couldn't have done it on my own."
The guests nod in recognition and reply to Relid's comment as the feast begins.
...
Early the next morning, the group crowds around the egg resting against Crimsa's belly; an air of excited tension filling the space around them. Somewhere around half an hour before the sun begins to rise, cracks begin to show in the egg as it starts to shake lightly. Crimsa growls threateningly as the guests inch forward, telling them to not come closer; Relid steps behind Crimsa, who's eyes still remain locked on the egg, backing her threat himself. A few minutes pass before a light cracking sound is audible throughout the cave, and a dragon, still wet from being inside its egg, stumbles out into the world, and, using its nose, takes in the scents of that world, first getting the scent of its parents, then two more scents. Crimsa nuzzles her new hatchling and catches its scent, determining it's a female, and announcing this to the three others.
"Her name is Crystalia." Crimsa says with a confident, backward glance at Relid, who thanks the guests one last time before the group disperses, returning home at last.
Crimsa licks the tiny female dry and nuzzles it's face; not yet completely grasping the enormity of her achievement...
Crimsa and Relid eventually retire to bed for the for the second time in 12 hours, eager to put a long, stressful day fully behind them.
. . .
The sun begins to glow faintly through the entrance as Crimsa wakes her mate.
"Morning." They both speak simultaneously, laughing at the coincidence.
Relid picks himself up off the bed and walks over to the small, leaf-padded, stick and stone nest they had made for their hatchling a few weeks beforehand, and pulls off the small patchwork fabric quilt Crimsa had made only a couple of days prior. As the mates both look into the small nest, their eyes are met, in turn, by the hatchling's vibrant green ones.
"Good morning Crystalia." Crimsa coos lovingly to the youngling.
Relid picks up the small, silver and green dragoness and carries her into their kitchen on his back, setting her down on their table, and leaving to let Crimsa feed her while he prepares towels for a trip to his secret, underground hot spring.
Crimsa, not knowing much about being a mother, very quickly finds herself running out of patience as every attempt she makes to feed her hatchling is quickly foiled.
"Come on, you annoying little fart, eat." Crimsa says through gritted teeth, trying to act calm as her facade begins to crumble after three or four attempts being rendered unsuccessful. She takes a deep breath and consciously decides to make yet another concerted attempt at feeding her hatchling. Her decision is rewarded when Crystalia finally begins to eat the ground beef off of the small ceramic in front of her.
"Finally..." Crimsa sighs exasperatedly, relieved that her hatchling was eating.
Relid walks in only a few seconds after with three plain, white towels, and they walk out into the early morning light before taking flight toward the hot springs with Crystalia on her mother's back, not yet being able to fly herself.
The flight is exhausting for Crimsa, not able to keep a constant speed or altitude with Crystalia still being far too weak to keep hold at any decent pace. After eventually landing less than gracefully at the mouth of a small, semi-cloaked cave, Crimsa steps aside, allowing her mate to lower the magical field surrounding the hot-spring. The three enter; Relid sets down the towels on a little stone ledge just inside the the area where the cave begins to open up slightly and walks a few feet into the darkness beyond, lighting a series of lanterns on the side opposing the entrance. Crimsa folds her sinewy wings gently, allowing Crystalia to crawl off of her back, onto her neck, and to a place where she can be easily picked up from, then entering the cave.
Crystalia jumps off of Crimsa's neck as they walk into the main chamber of the cave.
"Hop in little one." Crimsa coos to Crystalia, gently pushing her toward the water with a forepaw.
Crystalia whines lightly and hops in, not wanting to be pushed towards the edge. She sinks a few inches below the water's surface before her instincts kick in and she swims upward, treading water as her mother walks around to a small entry ramp and wades in, the water rising to her shoulders.
"See, you're safe." Crimsa chuckles at her hatchling, who chirps and dives below the surface, only to return a few seconds later after getting the mineral filled water in her sensitive eyes.
Crimsa sees Crystalia's desire to play and submerges herself, closing her third eyelids, a semi-translucent, white membrane that is meant to protect her eyes, and nudging her oblivious hatchling from underneath. Crystalia trills happily before attempting to dive again, this time in the same way her mother had pretended to, and, once again, returning quickly to the surface as a stinging pain fills her eyes. Crimsa surfaces upon hearing pained cries from above her and magically flushes her hatchling's eyes, immediately alleviating her pain; Relid, upon seeing her surface, playfully hops atop his mate, sending water flying everywhere and his mate onto her forelegs so that her head is submerged as she coughs up most of the air in her lungs. She quickly shakes Relid off, getting a footing as he swims, filled with childish exuberance, the twenty or so meters to the other edge of the spring. Crimsa blinks a few times and shakes off the impact before submerging herself and almost crawling, underwater, to the area below her mate before using her full strength to come up under his lower torso and flipping him over in the water. Relid almost catches himself but Crimsa counters with a quick swipe of her tail, blocking his front from moving forward, and, soon enough, he finds himself dazed with his stomach up and his back in the water. Crystalia whines, calling her mother's attention as her forehead slowly oozes deep red blood. Crimsa quickly swims over, readying a healing spell with a few deft signs of her left, front paw as well as a draconic incantation muttered quietly under her breath. As she makes it to her crying hatchling, she quietly says, "Just hold still, little one, mommy's gonna fix this." Before reaching a magically glowing paw toward the source of the small trickle of blood running down her hatchling's face, then lightly running the dull side of her claw up the wound as the spell goes to work, immediately healing the small gash. Crystalia nuzzles her small head against her mother's shoulder and purrs affectionately toward her as the two get out of the warm water and walk abreast to the towels, while Relid finally recovers enough from the shock of being flipped to stop letting water slowly drain from his mouth and spit it all out; dragging himself up the ramp, he finds his towel and drys off, joining his mate and daughter outside.
"Funny joke." Relid scowls, frowning pointedly at his mate.